NOA Raises Alarm Over Recruitment Of Child Soldiers By Bandits In Nasarawa

Bandits are now said to be recruiting child soldiers in Nasarawa State, Vanguard reports.

As the nation is grappling with insecurity challenges, the Nasarawa State Directorate of the National Orientation Agency, NOA, has called on the Nasarawa State government to increase its public enlightenment mechanisms of educating the citizens on the danger of being engaged by the bandits in its nefarious activities.

The call is coming even as the directorate has alleged that Child soldiers recruitment by the bandits was ongoing in Nasarawa.

State Director of the Agency, Mrs. Priscilla Gondu-alluor said during a courtesy visit on one of the radio stations, Breez FM in Lafia that lack of education, poverty and humanitarian problems were some critical factors bandits are capitalizing on to lure the children into their evil activities

NOA director enjoined parents to pay more attention to their wards, insisting that child soldiering method being applied by the bandits to engage the children, portends great danger to the state and nation.

While appealing to the politicians to dwell more on issue-based campaigns to realise the aim of democracy, Mrs Gondu-alluor stated that the recruitment of child soldiers was taking an alarming dimension in some parts of the country especially Nasarawa State

According to her, the agency requires the support of the media to fight the trend. and implored the residents of Nasarawa State to key into the government’s fight against insecurity in the state adding that the development was far from the objectives of the Nasarawa State government and Directorate of the National Orientation Agency to enlighten the public on efforts to stem the tide of insecurity in the state and the country

Responding on behalf of the management of Breeze 99.9FM, the station’s head of News and Current Affairs, Edwin Philip, maintained that the station would sustain its drive of informing, educating, enlightening the public on curbing election violence and other crimes in the state.

While assuring the State Directorate of NOA of continued partnership, Philip noted that overnment has a duty to frontally end insecurity in the country, saying with dedication to service, insecurity will be contained.

It would be recalled that Save the Children International had said in 2018 that over 65, 000 children were recruited as child soldiers for the purpose of suicide bombing, sexual exploitation and domestic service among others.